09 September, 2024
#52 Portrait from a male ally for women in finance: Jeroen Somers
Why do you believe you are a male ally?
I have a background in the financial sector and only recently got to know WIF through an information session. Until then, I didn’t have much idea of what inclusion & diversity was about and had never heard of a male ally. To be honest, in the beginning I didn’t think I was very qualified to put myself forward, but through the commitment within WIF’s workstream networking, the realisation grew that I can play a role. The more you talk to people, the more you realise that things still need to change - after all there are still too many prejudices around gender, age, orientation, and so on. I want to listen more to that and inspire others to do the same.
Why do you think male allies are needed?
I think there’s still too little awareness and knowledge about the issue today, so you are going to need men to involve other men in a positive change. In this regard, you definitely have to consider men in a senior position who come on board. If you want change, you also need to cast your net wider and you can’t only address and involve women in the WIF context. Leading by example, that’s how we make change happen.
The timing is also important: the conservative reflex is coming back everywhere, in every layer, and there is a very high level of polarisation in society. Can we change that ourselves? No, but what I can do is influence my own world because of the steps I take, and there is sometimes still too little awareness of the impact you can have by doing so.
I feel that it’s an important signal, although I’m also realistic of course: sustainable change is a slow process.
Which advantages do you see in working in a more diverse environment? Can you give an example of a concrete project/situation?
I’ve always worked in a very diverse environment over the years, which really is a very positive experience. In my teams there was a good balance between men and women. Actually, my impression is that I’ve worked with more women than men. As a matter of fact, two of the three people who have inspired me the most are women.
Coincidence or not? I can’t put my finger on it, but I’ve learned so much from them. And that’s something you have much less of within a homogeneous group. In a heterogeneous group, the dynamics are different, you are more considerate of each other, you learn from different perceptions and you also reflect on a different way of thinking.
If you don’t open yourself up to this, you inevitably create conflicts or employees will leave after a while.
What remains difficult for you? What don’t you know yet?
So much! But that doesn’t matter, I learn something new every day. I’ll give you a very specific example: I still struggle with the question of how we can have the different financial institutions learn from each other, and above all, how we get those not currently open to it involved in this story. Employees don’t always realise what’s going on, you want to raise awareness without getting into an us/them scenario or pointing the finger. On the other hand, men often have a solution-oriented reflex – so do I - while you also have to take time to learn and reflect.
How can we reach this group of people in a positive way?
If you had, as a man, more flexibility before, what would you have changed? E.g. more time with your family?
You feel that the standards are changing, and the trend of working from home also has a positive impact on this. As a man, you used to feel the social pressure to take care of the financial aspects more strongly, and I experienced that as well. Especially as one’s career evolves and one’s salary increases over the years, it’s not at all easy to slow this down or even partially reverse it. These days I feel like I want more balance in my family most of all. Because we’ve started organising things differently at home, my wife has also been able to take advantage of new opportunities to develop professionally, while I got the opportunity to spend more quality time with my family.
I find that today’s young people attach more value to a good work-life balance, and the labour market is also changing in this sense - it’s a positive evolution and a cultural change.
What can you win as men in a more gender-flexible environment?
Working with diverse teams and approaching matters from multiple angles as a result can reap huge rewards. But I wouldn’t only approach it as a ‘win’. More than anything else, we must create an awareness that there don’t have to be ‘losers’. When you approach people, you can’t give them the feeling that they have something to lose, because then they become defensive, and your efforts just lead to silos and conflicts. At all levels, it must above all feel like a positive story in which you are making progress, step by step. Together.
